Sins of the Fathers considers sins as nodes of cultural anxiety and explores the tensions between competing organizational categories for moral thought and behaviours, namely the Seven Deadly Sins and the Ten Commandments. Hilaire Kallendorf explores the decline and rise of these organizational categories against critical transformations of the early modern period, such as the accession of Spain to a position of world dominance and the arrival of a new courtly culture to replace an old warrior ethos.
This ground-breaking study is the first to consider Spanish Golden Age comedias as an archive of moral knowledge. Kallendorf has examined over 800 of these plays to illustrate how they provide insight into aspects of early modern experience such as food, sex, work, and money. Finally, Kallendorf engages the theoretical terminology of Marxist literary criticism to demonstrate the inherent ambiguity of cultural change.

Foreword

Table of Seven Deadly Sins and Ten Commandments

Introduction

Part I: Residue

Chapter 1:  Pride & Co.

Chapter 2:  Greed Breaks the Bag

Chapter 3:  Lusty Lads and Luscious Ladies

Part II: Transformation

Chapter 4:  Loathe to Call it Sloth: The Plus Side of Pereza

Chapter 5:  That Gnawing Hunger: The Plus Size of Gluttony

Chapter 6:  Angry Young Murderers    

Part III: Emergence

Chapter 7:  Disappearing Deadlies: The End of Envy

Chapter 8:  Parents and Lies: The Decalogue on the Rise

Conclusion

Epilogue

Bibliography of Primary Dramatic Sources

General Bibliography

Hilaire Kallendorf is a professor of Hispanic and religious studies in the Department of Global Languages and Cultures at Texas A&M University.